The Scotsman William Bell Scott, born in 1811, was a painter and a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other Pre-Raphaelites. Nuremberg as a city and Dürer as an artist fascinated him. His sense of affinity finds its finest expression in this painting. In his autobiography Scott wrote: "I paintes a picture from the balcony at the end of Albert Dürer's house, showing the open space at the Thiergarten Thor with the Schloss beyond, and Albert looking out at the passing crowd."
After being displayed in London in the year of its production, the painting was privately owned until, in 1909, it finally reached the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
William Bell Scott also wrote the book "Albert Durer: His Life and Works. Including Autobiographical Papers and Complete Catalogues, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1869"